In my 13 or however many years of being a Preds fan I've never felt so.....I don't know....disappointed maybe? Hopeless?

1998-2001ish: Expansion mode. Success would be fantastic but it was against all odds, and we knew it was unlikely.

2001ish-2004: Never had success before but we knew we were shedding the expansion status and better things were likely on the horizon. Didn't know what winning was like yet, but we could feel it coming around the corner, especially with the 2003-2004 playoff berth.

2004-2005: Lockout but at the same time knew that a small market like us was being fought for and hoped that we would be able to compete with the "big boys" when the lockout ended. We did.

2005-2007: Man were we a good team. 4th place both years, although should've been higher because of the playoff format, and despite running into the Sharks both years we established ourselves as a franchise that was learning to win and make a name for ourselves in the league.

2007-2008: What a roller-coaster of a season. Began with the sale/Balsillie garbage and "Save Our Preds" rally, ended with a playoff berth against all odds.

2008-2011: Although missing the playoffs in 2008-09, we still had guys flourishing into established veterans and future key pieces. 09-10 was the infamous first round exit but we were more solid than in years past, and of course last year we reached heights we never had before. Fantastic ride and we couldn't wait for the future of the club to unfold.

Present: Well, July 1st (opening of free agency) came and went. Predictably we didn't do much....in fact we did less than nothing. I was afraid of this as I saw the likes of Ward, Sullivan, and yes even Dumont and Goc leaving. Then Franson and Lombardi (who we all were cautiously hoping would come back at some point during his lengthy contract) departed via trade and we got almost literally nothing in return. I didn't know how this was going to work but I figured it would, as it always had in the past. Well....here we are, 7 points in 8 games, and have been out played in arguably all eight of them. Youngest team in the NHL....only team in the league to be outshot in each game.....and hard-pressed to find any kind of offensive productivity in any consistent form, and we're forced to either be A.) forcefully optimistic, or B.) incredibly disappointed that just five months ago we were at the peak of our franchise.

Do we have potential on the roster? Of course we do. Every team in the NHL should have potential on their roster. I just think it's personally sad that we've sunk this low after last season. I realize that we were trying to "save money" for Weber, Suter and Pekka after this season, but there had to be a better way to do it.

I'm as big of a fan as anyone.....and I hope like hell I'm wrong.....but wow does this ever have the makings of one. long. season......

In my 13 or however many years of being a Preds fan I've never felt so.....I don't know....disappointed maybe? Hopeless?

1998-2001ish: Expansion mode. Success would be fantastic but it was against all odds, and we knew it was unlikely.

2001ish-2004: Never had success before but we knew we were shedding the expansion status and better things were likely on the horizon. Didn't know what winning was like yet, but we could feel it coming around the corner, especially with the 2003-2004 playoff berth.

2004-2005: Lockout but at the same time knew that a small market like us was being fought for and hoped that we would be able to compete with the "big boys" when the lockout ended. We did.

2005-2007: Man were we a good team. 4th place both years, although should've been higher because of the playoff format, and despite running into the Sharks both years we established ourselves as a franchise that was learning to win and make a name for ourselves in the league.

2007-2008: What a roller-coaster of a season. Began with the sale/Balsillie garbage and "Save Our Preds" rally, ended with a playoff berth against all odds.

2008-2011: Although missing the playoffs in 2008-09, we still had guys flourishing into established veterans and future key pieces. 09-10 was the infamous first round exit but we were more solid than in years past, and of course last year we reached heights we never had before. Fantastic ride and we couldn't wait for the future of the club to unfold.

Present: Well, July 1st (opening of free agency) came and went. Predictably we didn't do much....in fact we did less than nothing. I was afraid of this as I saw the likes of Ward, Sullivan, and yes even Dumont and Goc leaving. Then Franson and Lombardi (who we all were cautiously hoping would come back at some point during his lengthy contract) departed via trade and we got almost literally nothing in return. I didn't know how this was going to work but I figured it would, as it always had in the past. Well....here we are, 7 points in 8 games, and have been out played in arguably all eight of them. Youngest team in the NHL....only team in the league to be outshot in each game.....and hard-pressed to find any kind of offensive productivity in any consistent form, and we're forced to either be A.) forcefully optimistic, or B.) incredibly disappointed that just five months ago we were at the peak of our franchise.

Do we have potential on the roster? Of course we do. Every team in the NHL should have potential on their roster. I just think it's personally sad that we've sunk this low after last season. I realize that we were trying to "save money" for Weber, Suter and Pekka after this season, but there had to be a better way to do it.

I'm as big of a fan as anyone.....and I hope like hell I'm wrong.....but wow does this ever have the makings of one. long. season......

First off, great post. I totally agree with this.

Problem with the bolded part is are weber, suter, and rinne really going to want to resign on a team that isn't willing to spend money outside of those guys? If this team doesn't perform well this season... god forbid miss the playoffs... you might as well kiss those players goodbye.

I hear ya! After our best post season ever, everyone is super excited, then we have worst offseason ever in our history and still haven't done anything about it.

Sure Poile made room for guys to be signed (big three), but two of them will walk as free agents this season then one the following. I guarantee none of them want to stick around on a team that will never win a cup.

Then we have so much room under cap floor and we sign bottom feeder crap players just to get to cap floor.

First off, great post. I totally agree with this.
Problem with the bolded part is are weber, suter, and rinne really going to want to resign on a team that isn't willing to spend money outside of those guys? If this team doesn't perform well this season... god forbid miss the playoffs... you might as well kiss those players goodbye.

Exactly. When I said "I was afraid of this" in the OP that's essentially what I meant.(not being snarky, just re-affirming it)... Saving money and having a gameplan going forward is great, but if I'm drooled over by the entire league (Weber), a fantastic goalie in my prime, or an extremely solid defenseman (Suter), it's a business and why would I want to hang around a team that moved forward from their biggest season by regressing about as much as possible?

If we finish well out of the playoffs, I hope the ownership will grow some balls and finally give Poile his walking papers. Alot of this is his fault. Our lack of talent at forward is absolutely killing us! I keep harping on this but think what we would have had if we had drafted Jordan Eberle instead Chet Pickard? Now I know one guy doesn't make that much difference but Eberle is a talent and game changer. And he is scoring goals for Edmonton.

It will be a long season and all the momentum from last season is wasted. Instead of "improving" the third level, why not improve the team, and the front office? I have read alot of complaints about ticket reps being clueless and the general customer service experience being terrible. I thought things were supposed to improve with Cogen et al. I feel like it has gotten worse. And our video opening is one of the LAMEST I have ever seen! What idiot thought that would get the crowd pumped up?! I feel like the front office has regressed.

I am going to keep going to games because I love hockey and love the people I have met but this team is not going to get any merchandise money out of me for the foreseeable future. And I will be sporting other teams jerseys until they figure out how to win at home.

Well I'll refrain from jumping on this bandwagon of horror for now but I will agree with one thing fully: After the past season and postseason success, this is the worst time to go with the youth movement. We had a ton of momentum in the community and lots of folks bought tickets. It sucks that we are watching a team with a learning curve right now, but in the end, it could be a fun ride.

Well I'll refrain from jumping on this bandwagon of horror for now but I will agree with one thing fully: After the past season and postseason success, this is the worst time to go with the youth movement. We had a ton of momentum in the community and lots of folks bought tickets. It sucks that we are watching a team with a learning curve right now, but in the end, it could be a fun ride.

Agree with this, and having been a Kings fan for most of my life, I can vouch for the fact that we could be seeing a LOT worse than what the Preds have shown us thus far. Youth movements always suck, but I have great respect for this organization, and their dedication to 'homegrown' players. I'm willing to give some of those players a good 15-20 games to find their niche before panic time, and Trotz/Poile's track record gives me no reason to doubt this team will be in the hunt once again come the end of the season.

The two guys that have been the most creative have Wilson and Smith. They both wasn't even thought about before the season started. Smith was a propect and Wilson was dispostional. Doesn't that tell you what the plan was for offense was. 3 of the 4 lines are hope lines

Our top 6 coming into this year had:
Leggy-Erat-xxxx
Fisher-Hornqvist-SK

We needed one guy. And guess what? Wilson and Smith are both performing. Not just stats but actually looking like Top 6 forwards.

Our suck has been something else entirely. Bad execution. Bad effort. Bad forecheck. Bad breakout. Bad defense. These are things the Preds excel at because they can be taught, coached, corrected, perfected, dealt with. And this stuff is looking better bit by bit since the Oilers game.

Our top 6 coming into this year had:
Leggy-Erat-xxxx
Fisher-Hornqvist-SK

We needed one guy. And guess what? Wilson and Smith are both performing. Not just stats but actually looking like Top 6 forwards.

Yea when you put it that way it seems like, "oh then we should be fine". But thats the thing, those are all 50 pt players. They show up and disappear for long stretches and we are already seeing that. (outside Erat and Fish being hurt)

We dont need another top 6 player, we need a top 3 player. A true 1st liner and nothing lower

Suter, Weber and Rinne will all leave for more adult teams and the Preds will be back to expansion team mode: Mostly a bunch of 'promising' players that will (forever) be ready for *next* year to be their breakout year. Sprinkle in a few seriously overpaid (gotta make the cap floor!) vets that happen to be unemployed at the moment. Lindback will be the #1 goalie for a couple years while we draft defencemen. Some doofus, a la Tom Fitzgerald, will be named 'Captain'.

Yea when you put it that way it seems like, "oh then we should be fine". But thats the thing, those are all 50 pt players. They show up and disappear for long stretches and we are already seeing that. (outside Erat and Fish being hurt)

We dont need another top 6 player, we need a top 3 player. A true 1st liner and nothing lower

It is a shame that after the high last season ended on, that the offseason was so miserable and they've started so poorly.

Sometimes it does seem like it would take a miracle just to score a single goal.

I really am tired of hearing about money. I know we will, most likely, never be a cap spending team. But at some point we have to start spending some money for a good offensive player to truly compete. I know, we're saving money to pay the "3" and that's great. So we sign them and we can stop the puck. But we still need someone to score. Jason Arnott asked for help, Weber asked for help. Yet we still don't have the offensive tools to be a real threat to score. I know we're depending on that big revenue sharing check, but at some point we have to actually spend above the midpoint of the cap. We can't keep being a floor team and think this team is ever going to be more than a 1-2 year contender. I don't want to be the development ground for the other teams future stars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hockey diva

I am going to keep going to games because I love hockey and love the people I have met but this team is not going to get any merchandise money out of me for the foreseeable future. And I will be sporting other teams jerseys until they figure out how to win at home.

So you're not a Preds fan anymore? Or is it only cool to wear a Predators jersey when they're winning? Meanwhile, we're only 0-2-1 at home and were 3-0 during the preseason.

I'd just like to point out that the free agent market this past offseason was pretty weak, outside a couple of guys. The 2012 free agent market looks FAR more promising.

But that doesn't matter. You see Poile is supposed to make a call, get the other teams top 2 players for a 7th round pick.He's also supposed to call the top free agents and tell them he would like to sign them at half of their current salary and they will line up outside his office door for the chance.
</sarcasm>

I'd just like to point out that the free agent market this past offseason was pretty weak, outside a couple of guys. The 2012 free agent market looks FAR more promising.

The issue is pools always look promising until teams resign guys. The pool does look strong right now, but that's because every team has guys like Suter and Rinne hitting UFA that will be resigned before July 1. Free Agent classes in the NHL are always weak. Very, very rarely do quality top 6 forwards or top 4 d men hit the market, and when they do, they aren't too interested in Nashville.